It was a long time ago, but for a brief while, Steven Spielberg was at the top of the short list to direct 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — until he got distracted by Tom Cruise.

Back in 2000, the studio made a hard push at Spielberg to helm the first installment of the eventually massive Harry Potter franchise before Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire) got the gig. Spielberg was apparently more interested in turning it into a CGI film, inspired by Pixar’s fresh string of monster hits Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

Though he apparently gave it some heavy consideration, Spielberg eventually walked away because he was more interested in making the ambitious sci-fi project Minority Report with Tom Cruise. We’re obviously glad Spielberg made Minority Report, no doubt, but we’d be fascinated to see his take on Harry Potter — though we’re admittedly a bit iffy on the CGI animated idea.